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Sunday, August 5, 2012

Orecchiette Con Broccoli Di Rape and Sausages for #SundaySupper

“Cooking is like love; it should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”
―
Julia Child

This week the #SundaySupper group is helping to celebrate the life of a wonderful woman, chef, teacher, and to many, a dear friend. I remember as a child watching her cooking on tv and thinking how someday, I wanted to be able to cook like her. As I grew older my taste in cooking changed and although I don't tend to cook too many "classic" dishes like Julia, I can still appreciate her love for fresh ingredients and tried and true techniques. We all decided to try a dish of hers and for me this was an easy choice. My family loves pasta, my kids beg for broccoli (no I am not making this up) and I love anything with garlic in it! We did modify the recipe by one small thing, we used sweet Italian turkey sausage to cut back on some of the fat content.....hope that is not cheating!! ;)

Ingredients:

For the Sauce:

2 lbs. broccoli di rape

1/2 lb. sweet Italian sausage

5 tablespoons good olive oil

3 large cloves garlic crushed

Salt

1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

1 to 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (optional)

1 cup or more excellent chicken stock

For the Pasta:

6 quarts water

2 teaspoons salt

1 lb. orecchiette pasta

For Serving:

1 ounce or more Pecorino Romano cheese grated

Special Equipment Suggested:

A 12-inch saute pan 3 inches deep, with tight-fitting cover

A tall stockpot holding at least 2 gallons with cover

A large warm platter or warm soup bowls or plates

Directions:

Preparing the Broccoli di
Rape: Wash and spin-dry the broccoli di rape and remove the large tough
leaves, leaving just tender leaves and flower buds. Cut off and discard
the lower part of the stems, leaving broccoli about 8 inches long. Peel
the stems by lifting strips from the stem end and drawing them up
toward the bud area.

Preparing the
Sauce: Peel the sausage, crumble it, and saute over moderately high heat
in a tablespoon of olive oil. In a moment or two, add the crushed
garlic and continue sauteing for another 2 to 3 minutes, until the
sausage is lightly browned. Drain out the fat in the pan, and add a
tablespoon of olive oil. Roughly line up the broccoli di rape and slice
into 4-inch lengths: add to the pan, tossing. Taste, and season lightly
with salt and pepper flakes. (At this point, you could start the pasta.)
Cover the broccoli pan and let steam for several minutes: when the
broccoli has wilted, stir in the butter, then the stock and bring to a
boil. Taste again for seasoning, and let cook uncovered for several
minutes more to reduce and concentrate the liquid. (At this point grate
the cheese.) Again taste and correct seasoning. Set aside until the
pasta is ready.

Boiling the Pasta: Heat
6 quarts of water in the stockpot, adding the salt, and timing so that
the water is at a full boil by the time the broccoli di rape goes into
the pan in the previous step. With the heat at its maximum, stir in the
pasta and cover the pan until the water is at a boil. Then set the cover
ajar and maintain at a moderate boil for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring and
checking on the progress now and then. After 9 minutes, start testing
by eating a piece. It should be just cooked through, but not quite as
tender as you would like because it will cook a little more with the
sauce. Drain at once, and proceed to the serving.

Serving
the Pasta: Reheat the broccoli di rape as soon as the pasta has cooked
and drained. Turn the hot pasta into the hot sauce and toss gently to
blend. Taste carefully for seasoning, and remove from heat. Sprinkle on
half of the freshly grated Romano cheese, and toss to blend. At once,
turn the pasta onto the hot platter or plates, sprinkle with the rest of
the Romano, and serve.

For more great recipes from Julia, check out my fellow #SundaySupper bloggers!!

The fun starts every week at 3:00pm ET by showcasing fabulous
recipes. At 7:00 pm ET, we will start our live chat. Join us on twitter
by using hashtag #Sundaysupper or using Tweetchat. We love to feature your recipes on our #sundaysupper pinterest board and share them with all of our followers. See you there!

I have all the ingredients on hand except the broccoli rape. I'll be stopping by the market and making this dish very soon. I've always wanted to use brocolli rape but haven't figured out a way yet. well, until now. Thanks for the inspiration!